This week’s Virtual Medieval Colloquium features Nadja Germann (Freiburg).
When: Thursday, April 30th, 18:00 in Freiburg / 10am in Boulder.
Recording: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1QdNlNzXFw8XpBbvgABTQ2vPcn9HvSHpf
Title: “The Speaking Animal: Philosophy of Language in the Age of al-Fārābī”
The handout is here.
Abstract: Experts of medieval philosophy are well acquainted with Arabic names like al-Fārābī, Avicenna, and Averroes. However, only few scholars are aware that at the same time as these ‘giants,’ a host of other thinkers were active, some of whom had, in fact, a tremendous impact on 12th/13th-century Islamic philosophy and beyond. And even fewer specialists have taken note of the specific prosperity and sophistication distinguishing a field we would nowadays classify as philosophy of language. In this talk, I will focus on core features of this ‘forgotten tradition’ and some of its major protagonists, particularly, al-Jāḥiẓ (d. 868) and Ibn Jinnī (d. 1002).
Please note that all colloquia are recorded, and a link to these recordings has been added to the original announcement page for each lecture.